Anakin's Son
by IBG
Summary: Set after the death of Prince Xizor. Vader reports, but Palpatine's mind is sectors away...  A continuation of sorts to 'SKYWALKER'


I own none of this.

A continuation of sorts to 'SKYWALKER'. The words in bold italics are said with scorn.

_**Anakin's Son**_

Vader kneels before me. Once more he has mysteriously failed to gain custody of his children.

I pretend to listen.

He prattles about the details of their escape.

I reflect that his cunning has always been sharpest in motion – in the heat of battle or flight. His ability to scheme has improved in 20 years of living in my empire, it has had to, but my efforts to train him in this area have been most unsuccessful. He met each of my challenges with a mix of impotent anger, offended pride, and stoic acceptance of his re-enslaved state, but never with improved methods for ridding himself of obstacles. No mysterious ill fates befell any of his rivals, unless they chose to oppose Vader openly. No groundswell of support (popular, military or otherwise) nudged my political hand regarding his favored causes….

I tire of Vader's litany of insipid lies and dismiss him. We both know he let the Millenium Falcon go.

As I watch his retreating form my blood boils with a frustration that tempts me to take Vader's example and destroy the room, and the source of my irritation with it. But I restrain myself. Vader still has his uses, and now is not the time when I will benefit maximally from his death. My apprentice remains unaware of his changed status with me, though two years have elapsed since my decision. Two decades in my service he is still too innocent for his own best interest. I marvel at his incorruptibility.

Another demonstration of the idiocy of fabled _**'Jedi Council' **_and **_'Master Yoda'_**. Blinded themselves to the soul of their **_'Chosen One'_**, they did. Easily distracted they were. Attachments, lack of emotional control, occasional deeds of passion and a few dead younglings do not a Sith make. I know all too well.

Vader fights daily to remain in the dark. The internal conflict has continued uninterrupted for so long it has become instinctive second nature. He sees himself as a Sith because of this, but his vision is clouded. He's just a Masochist. He remains in his current position to punish himself, deserved payment for his self-percieved 'failures'. His mundane actions are usually appropriate, but they are shallow, short-lived, no deeper than his suit and mask. Sith seek only self interest. Sith feel no remorse, and therefore owe no penance. Sith do not pelt aside profitable business alliances to ensure the safety of sons who have rejected them. A true Sith has no need to strangle a sentient per week to keep Darkness flowing. The Dark is our Home. Behind the visors of his helmet Vader's eyes are more frequently than not Naboo-Sky blue. I know. He should know that I know. He fails to understand.

Anakin's Son is dangerous, not for his budding _**'Jedi'**_ skills or his role in the pitiful Rebel Alliance.

His danger lies in that he (Young Skywalker) offers his father motivation outside Vader's own worthless self. _**'Luke'**_ gives my slave ambition and hope by his very existence.

By inconvenient accident he has cleared his father's path of my obstacles.... Deprived Vader of my galling markers of his servitude one by one.... First Tarkin, then Xizor, now my sources suggest Skywalker will visit Jabba the Hutt next…..

I might have thought Vader had sent his child after his enemies, but I know him to be incapable of such schemes. And having inherited at least some of **_Anakin's_** stubborn pride _**Commander Skywalker**_ would not take Lord Vader's orders anyway.

It is the instinct of every abandoned child… to wonder why and to seek answers if such answers can be safely had. After the fiasco with Xizor, _**'Luke'**_ may feel emboldened. Eventually he will come to Vader again and that fool still won't know what he aught to do with _**Anakin's Son**_.

By contrast, I descerned my most beneficial course of action regarding _**'Luke'**_ from the begining, and set plans in motion for various eventualities. I will have my way. I have forseen it.


End file.
